United Kingdom

"...Theresa May's claims are highly questionable. The Russian government rejects the British allegations and demands evidence which Britain has not provided. Unless there is significant further evidence the British incrimination of Russia looks like a cynical plot intended for political and/or commercial purposes. As usual in the military-industrial complex the people who push such weapon schemes, are the ones who profit from them. How could the British government be sure of 'Russian' involvement within a week when the primary chemical experts on the issue will need 3 weeks for their first analysis and the police predict a several months long investigation?"

Question Less! 'Liberal' Witch-Hunters Hunt For Heretics in Modern Britain

"...The sad truth is that hatred of Russia and Russians has not only become an acceptable form of racism in the 'politically correct' Britain of 2018. The phenomenon of liberal totalitarianism - and I don't think it's hyperbolic to call it that - needs to be openly discussed before it's too late. Entire countries such as Libya - which not so long ago enjoyed the highest standard of living in the whole of Africa - have been destroyed in order to 'save' their people from a leader the 'liberals' deem is beyond the pale. The Western 'liberal' always knows best. Liberalism used to be an ideology which protected the individual and his rights. New-style liberalism by contrast takes its cue from neocon ideologues and obsessive Cold War warriors who want to clamp down on dissident voices..."

"It seems that the 'Novichok' fairy-tale the British government plays to us provides for a happy ending. The astonishing and mysterious resurrection of the victims of a 'military grade', '5 t0 8 times more deadly than VX gas' 'nerve agent' 'of a type developed by' Hollywood. Happy Easter."

"Boris Johnson put his post in jeopardy after apparently lying about Russia being proven as the source of a nerve agents used in the Skripal poisoning. On Tuesday, the Porton Down lab said that they hadn't identified the source."

"Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to Britain, further increased the pressure on Theresa May by publicly asserting that the Skripal case was a 'provocation' carried out by British intelligence."

"The UK Foreign Office denies claiming the nerve agent used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals came directly from Russia. Despite admitting it sent a tweet saying exactly that and Boris Johnson making the same claim. The UK Foreign Office has admitted it deleted the tweet."

"Words have consequences and threatening actions can be very dangerous. This is the atmosphere engulfing the West's relations with Russia. The poisoning incident in the UK has yet to be explained to the public. But this has not stopped the British and American governments from playing the role of judge, jury and executioner."

"The strange case of the Salisbury poisoning. The list of unanswered questions is growing longer by the day. The Skripal story has changed so rapidly it's hard to keep up. The only constant being 'Russia did it.'

Only very thick and stupid people like Canadian MPs who voted unanimously in favour of FM Freeland's 'Russia did it' motion, could possibly believe such an outlandish tale - now rapidly coming apart.

I have to say I have some trouble with the story as given. After all, isn't this supposed to be a very deadly chemical, a tiny amount of which would send a horse to the glue factory? So how is it that the only people who had direct contact with said chemical are alive, and 'recovering rapidly'?

The story is that the chemical was placed on the door handle of the Skripal home. Presumably the last person to leave the house after the chemical was placed would have gotten the full dose. Yet they still made it to a park, where they sat at a bench, and were both found unresponsive. Assuming the father closed the door, therefore touching the door handle, he would have received a major dose. It's less clear how the daughter received her dose. If, in fact, the fumes themselves were enough to cause a near fatality, how is the father is still alive?

How is it the person who placed the chemical on the door was able to do that without getting a dose of the fumes? Whoever did that would have had to be wearing a hazmat suit. Just between you and me, a person wearing a hazmat suit, wandering around Salisbury, would probable excite some comment, and perhaps questions. Yet so far no one has come forward with such.

Perhaps there are details missing, but as the story stands, it doesn't stand, it falls.

I have to say I have some trouble with the story as given. After all, isn't this supposed to be a very deadly chemical, a tiny amount of which would send a horse to the glue factory? So how is it that the only people who had direct contact with said chemical are alive, and 'recovering rapidly'?

The story is that the chemical was placed on the door handle of the Skripal home. Presumably the last person to leave the house after the chemical was placed would have gotten the full dose. Yet they still made it to a park, where they sat at a bench, and were both found unresponsive. Assuming the father closed the door, therefore touching the door handle, he would have received a major dose. It's less clear how the daughter received her dose. If, in fact, the fumes themselves were enough to cause a near fatality, how is the father is still alive?

How is it the person who placed the chemical on the door was able to do that without getting a dose of the fumes? Whoever did that would have had to be wearing a hazmat suit. Just between you and me, a person wearing a hazmat suit, wandering around Salisbury, would probable excite some comment, and perhaps questions. Yet so far no one has come forward with such.

Perhaps there are details missing, but as the story stands, it doesn't stand, it falls.

Well, your sketpticism, if taken to its logical conclusion, would have to lead us to conclude that Novichok wasn't used at all, since no one could have plausibly handled it without either dying, or drawing immediate attention to himself.

So, then not only are the authorities lying about the source of the chemical, they're lying about the very use of the chemical itself. Not neccessarily refuting you, but I'm wondering if it's plausible that they could be just making that up out of thin air.

As someone who has been tracking this story closely from the beginning, I can only conclude that this must have been a western intelligence operation. And not a very good one. The story only works on a primed Russophobic audience ready, able and eager to believe the wildest msm nonsense because it 'fits' with your pre-conception of the supposed culprit.

What should be alarming to Canadians is that the House of Commons voted unanimously to support a presented motion based on a fabricated scenario which was obviously and manifestly dubious, based purely on the say-so of Chrystia Freeland, Theresa May, Bojo etc. They did the same with the decision to support NATO war on Libya. They're either not very smart or not very ethical. Perhaps both.

The Rapidly Evolving Skripal Story. Evidence of an Anglo-American Plan

"If the claims of Novichok's toxicity are true, then the front door handle could not possibly have infected them. If the nerve agent was so weak that it takes four hours to do its job of rendering targets dead or immobilized, then its utility as a weapon is less than useless..."

"....The aim by using something as emotional as chemical weapons is to create an anti-Russia hysteria that will enable NATO governments to pick up much more of the military budget than they are now doing, from the US.

It will force all their countries to pay 2 percent of their GDP to the US Military-Industrial Complex. So essentially, the Skripal affair is to frighten populations to enable NATO to try to push through more military spending for NATO. Then we're going to have to cut back our social spending because we can't have both guns and butter..."

The Skripal Fiasco is a NATO Shakedown For More Military Spending by US Western Vassals

"Flanked by Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, Trudeau said that Russia's 'illegitimate and illegal' actions - from its 2014 invasion of Crimea to the more recent poisoning on British soil - cannot go unchallenged. 'There needs to be clear consequences from the international community on Russia's continual desire to upset or cause trouble in the international order, international peace, stability and governance,' Trudeau said.

NATO Sec-Gen Jens Stoltenberg is commending Canada for its 'strong increase' in defence spending. Stoltenberg met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday. Stoltenberg praised Canada's pledge to increase defence spending 'after years of decline' and boost the size of its military and its commitment to NATO operations, including fighter planes, warships and the recent decision by Ottawa to participate in the alliance's decision by Ottawa to participate in the alliance's airborne warning program..."

Beware Russophobia - it's all about a pretext to steal the people's money for war-profiteers

Well, your sketpticism, if taken to its logical conclusion, would have to lead us to conclude that Novichok wasn't used at all, since no one could have plausibly handled it without either dying, or drawing immediate attention to himself.

​In the beginning in fact, it was said that anyone handling the chemical was at great risk. Since then they've changed it slightly to say that you could make the chemical on site by mixing two of the precursor chemicals (pardon the use of 'precursor', but that's as close as I can get). So transporting it would be much easier.

Then there was another slight change, and that was that if the person doing the mixing of the two precursor chemicals didn't do it quite right, the effect of the resultant chemical wouldn't be as severe. That would explain why the Skirpals weren't killed, and are apparently recovering.

That's where my bullshit detector starting mumbling to me.

Number one thing is this. Why not just shoot the guy? Cheap, easy, and effective. Why go to all the trouble of transporting a chemical, pardon me, two chemicals, which have to be mixed on site. Not only mixed on site, but mixed correctly, otherwise they won't work properly. At the same time, if they are mixed correctly, they are extremely dangerous to the person doing the mixing. The fumes were apparently enough to send a number of people to the hospital.

Then our assassin goes to the house and smears the chemical on the door handle of the house. In order to do that the person would have to drive or walk to the house, walk up to the front door, smear the substance on the door handle, then walk away as if just on a bit of a sightseeing tour. Now tell me, do you think the UK government didn't bother placing a few discreet cameras in the neighbourhood? I mean, after all, they are housing a defected spy who caused a fair bit of damage to Russian intelligence. Did it occur to them the Russians may take a stab at removing Skirpal from earth?

But the Russians are kind of dumb, they send someone to do the deed who isn't capable of mixing the chemicals properly, so the whole thing blows up in their face, and Skirpal is still alive.

I should say that I don't know what the real story is, and I'm not going to speculate as to what it might be.

All I know is that the story as given is so unlikely I think we can treat it as romantic fiction.

Edited to add:

After I had closed this post, I was still thinking about it, and I realized there is one way to make the story match the facts as we've been told them. That is, if the daughter was the assassin. I understand that is far-fetched, but if you make the daughter the perpetrator, then everything could have happened in exactly the way they say it did.

I think this is a fascinating mystery story, and I mostly agree with Rev Pesky's analysis of the situation. In particular, I agree with him that it is not obvious what faction is behind this event. I think that both those who say that it was obviously the Russians, and those who say it was obviously western security forces are going way further than any public evidence justifies, and are doing so mainly because of preconceived notions of good and evil.

"Curiouser and curiouser goes the Skripal affair. Let me just pose this question to you dear listener: What do you think public opinion and the wider world will make of the fact that the British government has just refused a visa to the closest surviving relative of the Skripal father and daughter..."

"So to recap, an accusation for which there is no evidence has been used to manufacture support for new escalations against Russia, a longtime rival of the western empire. We have been given ample evidence that the Skripal poisoning is being used to advance a pre-existing agenda, and no evidence at all to the contrary. It is a verdict in search of a crime. A war in search of an excuse. We're being lied to again..."

"...My admittedly speculative hypothesis (but I would argue, not an unreasonable one) is that Skripal was likely involved in the production of the Steele dossier. He was therefore in a position to offer up very damaging information into the circumstances of the [fabrication of] the Steele dossier. As noted above, that particular narrative has not only spectacularly collapsed, but the revelations reflect very badly on, among others, the US intelligence community, the FBI, the Democratic Committee, The Obama White House and the Clinton campaign.

In any major criminal enquiry one of the basic questions the investigation asks is: who had the means the motive and the opportunity? Framed in that light, the Russians come a distant fourth behind the other prime suspects, the US and UK intelligence agencies themselves..."

Had the accidential phone call on her 'temporary' phone not occurred between Yulia Skripal and her cousin Viktoria, subsequently made public in Russia, we wouldn't have known the condition of the Skripals, or Yulia's stated wish to check herself out of the hospital and go home to Russia. A visa application by Viktoria was refused and thus far there has been no consular access granted. Now we hear rumours of a deal being put together that could see the Skripals sent to America and a new life with new identities. The PTB will no doubt say it is to protect them from Russia, but it may very well be that its intention is rather to make sure they don't say what they know about Steele's dossier...

Russia is hardly a rival to the West. Its total economy is less than Canada's, with about four times the population. US military spending alone is equivalent to about 80% of Russia's GDP. Russian GDP/capita is only 7% above China's. The GDP of the NATO countries is 25 or 30 times greater than Russia's. The West could wage war on Russia with it being a total war for Russia, and barely noticed in the West. In such a war, where would Russia place their sole aircraft carrier? They have so many places to choose from!

This idea that Russia is somehow strong is also Western propaganda. Russia is very weak, and its productive capacity and resources are continually being siphoned off by its corrupt dictator and his cronies.

It is clear the West is looking for a pretext for war, as they feel the benefit will outweigh the costs. As it is currently constituted, Russia's days are numbered.

This thing about the poison and the UK has nothing to do with any facts. It is to further isolate Russia, and provide a possible cause for war.

I'd agree with you, progressive17, but for one small thing. As weakened as Russia is, they still have a large arsenal of nuclear weapons. They have made clear in the past that they would use those weapons in a defensive capacity.

And think back a bit. However weak Russia is now, they were much weaker in 1999. In fact the country had collapsed. At the time Putin was very clear about the situation. He said in an interview that if it wasn't for the education system and the high-tech sector, Russia was finished.

Since those days, Russia has actually made some advances, small though they are.

Recently China said that it was going to back Russia up, which changes the dynamic considerably. Remember, the madmen in the Pentagon strategize about "limited nuclear exchanges" and a "winnable nuclear war".

"The Skripal investigation is far from being completed, however, it appears that London is wooing Yulia Skripal, an important witness, in an attempt to 'confirm' its controversial poisoning story, which is bursting at the seams following a statement by Porton Down specialists, Canadian historian Michael J Carley told Sputnik."

"...The Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, threw a BOMBSHELL at the British assertions that the collapse of the British secret agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4 in Salisbury was caused by a 'Novichok' nerve agent, 'of a type developed by Russia.' After receiving that report, Russia was tipped off by the Spiez Laboratory or someone else that the OPCW report did not include the full results of its analysis..."

Salisbury Attack: Russia Claims Skripals Were Poisoned Using Toxin Possessed by UK and US

"...Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Swiss lab find substance that was not novichok nerve agent. Lavrov said Moscow had received information from a laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland suggesting that the Russian double agent and his daughter were exposed to a non lethal substance known as BZ.

Mr Lavrov said the toxin was not produced in Russia but was in service in Britain, the US and other NATO nations, Russian state media reported. Mr Lavrov noted the OPCW had mentioned neither novichok nor BZ in its independent report into the poison..."

"...It seems Mrs May has been trying to deceive the citizens of the United Kingdom with a fraud so huge that, if proved, she should be taken out of Parliament and thrown into the deepest, darkest prison cell we have - permanently."

"The British delegation to the OPCW has admitted that international chemical weapons inspectors did not confirm the origin of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury ex-spy poisoning. The UK's representative to the OPCW, Peter Wilson, said identifying the nerve agent is an 'essential part of of the investigation', and that the OPCW has identified neither its origin nor the laboratory where it was produced.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said 'highly likely' is a new invention of British diplomacy to describe why they punish people - because these people are 'highly likely' guilty. Like in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll when he described a trial...and the King said: 'Let's ask the jury' and the Queen shouted: 'No jury! Sentence first! Verdict afterwards!"

And silence from the Canadian media to these revelations. Your representatives unanimously supported UK's 'highly likely' condemnation of Russia for a crime, it now seems it never had evidence for in the first place. Don't wait for Canadian media to tell you this part of the story. They'd rather leave you with Chrystia Freeland's view, no matter how insupportable..

"The debate in the House of Commons on April 17 on anti-Semitism was planned as a coordinated attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by the party's right wing in alliance with the Conservative government."

"GG begins the show with a rant against Emmanuel Macron forging a very close relationship with President Donald Trump, even going so far as to compare that relationship with Tony Blair and George W Bush. Galloway went further than that and called the French President 'Tony Macron'. He also talks about the murders in Saudi Arabia."

George Galloway continues his relentless criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron's AKA Tony Macron's close relationship with US President Donald Trump. He also talks about what really happened to the late British UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly."

"Stupidly I had forgotten this vital confirmation from Channel 4 News (serial rebel Alex Thomson) of the D notice [do not publish] in place on mention of Pablo Miller. Back then I did not realise what I now know, that the person being protected was Pablo Miller, colleague in both MI6 then Orbus Intelligence, of Christopher Steele, author of the fabrications of the Trump/Russia golden shower dossier.

That the government's very first act on the poisoning was to ban all media mention of Pablo Miller makes it extremely probable that this whole incident is related to the Trump dossier and that Skripal had worked on it, as I immediately suspected.

The most probable cause is that Skripal - who you should remember had traded the names of Russian agents to Britain for cash - had worked on the dossier..."

"It is over 2 weeks since Yulia Skripal was released from hospital and reportedly taken to a safe place. There have been no further reports on her condition or that of her father who was also said to be recovering but more slowly."

"At the very beginning of the Skripal incident, the security services blocked by D(SMA) notice any media mention of Pablo Miller and told the media not to look at Orbis and the Steele dossier on Trump...MI6's most important media conduit (after Frank Gardner) is Luke Harding of THE GUARDIAN..."

The international chemical weapons watchdog has amended a claim made by its director general that as much as 50-100 grams of liquid nerve agent was used in the attack on the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

...On Thursday the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Üzümcü, said the amount of novichok...used in the attack on 4 March was significantly more than needed for research purposes and indicated it was likely to have been created for use as a weapon.

...Within hours of the report, however, startled chemical weapons experts were challenging the figure, insisting a miscommunication had occurred. A statement from the OPCW on Friday said the organisation “would not be able to estimate or determine the amount of the nerve agent that was used”.

...Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, had reacted with incredulity to the the initial OPCW claim, saying: “Üzümcü has made a sensational statement that 50-100g of some substance was allegedly used to poison the Skripals.

“According to expert estimations, 50-100g of a toxic agent such as the one Great Britain has been referring to would be enough to poison not just two people but everyone in the surrounding neighbourhood. However, the two people in question managed to survive and recover, the British authorities say.”

​How does the head of OPCW make such a schoolboy error? Or was it an error? It seems as though the amount mentioned (50-100g) was used specifically to support the statement that this stuff was to be used as a weapon.

Frankly, this whole story stinks to high heaven. As I said before, I don't know what the real story is, but the story we've been given is bullshit, through and through.

I agree. The Syrian 'chemical attack' story is similarly dodgy. But apparently our MPs buy the UK's Skripal script exactly as BoJo reported it to them (via Chrystia F) . They voted unanimously to support the whole cock and bull story. Significantly though, the story has disappeared from the western press. Here's more...

Which NATO Members Are Engaged in 'Novichok'-Type Substance Research Moscow Asks?

"Following the Czech president's remarks about his country producing a nerve agent of the so-called Novichok family, Russia expects a response from NATO providing a full list of bloc members engaged in similar research..."

"...One can only conclude that it is because the Government line is so obviously full of holes that reporting on it needed to be stopped, lest increasing numbers of rational people recognised it to be somewhat barking. It's a shame really. I began to look forward to seeing what each day's new dose of cock and bull would bring forth...

They were poisoned at the restaurant. No the car. No the cemetery. The flowers. No, it was in the luggage. No, the bench. No, it was porridge. No, no no! It was on the door handle, and it was liquid, which although tending to be runny, remained there for three weeks, even in all that rain and snow, in highly pure form, and you know the amazing thing is that people without protection stood just feet away from it, and they are fine. Whoda thunk it? But it is a military-grade nerve agent 'of a type developed by Russia,' nonetheless. Seriously guv...."

I think Orwell's 1984 stopped being fiction a long time ago. The influence of right wing media like Fox News and the election of Donald Trump are symptoms of that. The media landscape in Russia seems even more Orwellian!